SAN ANTONIO | Suburban and Metro Development Thread - Page 55

FastFerrari82 · #**1081** Posted **May 11, 2011, 3:53 AM**

We need someone in city council to encourage these builders to WANT to build downtown. Heck give out tax break or some kinda incentive to do so. I mean everything doesn't need to be on the far northwest edge of town, where SA pretty much ends.

UrbanTrance · #**1082** Posted **May 18, 2011, 12:32 AM**

I've been looking for the Olmos Park master plan for awhile. Don't know if anyone posted this or not awhile back.

McCullough Corridor Vision Plan

Quote:

Olmos Park, Texas
1-Mile Corridor
Administrative Review
The City of Olmos Park is a suburban community of approximately 2,300 residents, completely surrounded by the City of San Antonio. The City has a rich history dating back to the mid-1920’s when H.C. Thorman, a renowned oilman and real estate developer, purchased the property from an Austrian count and developed an exclusive residential neighborhood. The City has since grown into one of Texas’ most prominent neighborhoods, yet its commercial corridors that bound the neighbhorhood have never developed compatibly and remain low quality strip buildings along a small highway.

In 2009, the City established the Olmos Park Economic Development Corporation (the “EDC”) to promote, and enhance economic development for Olmos Park, the McCullough Commercial Corridor in particular. As a key early initiative to inform and guide subsequent efforts, the EDC and City Council retained a team led by Michael G. Imber Architects and Sargent Town Planning to create a conceptual plan that establishes a vision for the revitalization of this Commercial Corridor, with the core goal of elevating its quality and character to match that of the historic neighborhood.

A Vision Plan emerged from a week-long charrette in June 2010 - including a series of illustrations of the recommended types of buildings, streets, open spaces and parking arrangements for the Corridor - intended to embrace the City’s heritage, support the present-day vision and spirit of the community, and attract private investment to improve the district’s business mix and economic performance.

http://www.sargenttownplanning.com/p...or-vision-plan

Before

After

Keep-SA-Lame · #**1083** Posted **May 18, 2011, 1:12 AM**

Alamo Heights recently drafted a similar plan, but because both communities value low taxes I wouldn't count on either being implemented at all.

UrbanTrance · #**1084** Posted **May 18, 2011, 1:21 AM**

That's unfortunate, it's a very nice plan.

UrbanTrance · #**1085** Posted **May 19, 2011, 1:37 AM**

It says here how some of those people feel.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/communit...479.php#page-1

and this

http://www.mysanantonio.com/communit...al-1373808.php

miaht82 · #**1086** Posted **May 19, 2011, 8:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame

Alamo Heights recently drafted a similar plan, but because both communities value low taxes I wouldn't count on either being implemented at all.

If they really knew what that meant.
Norway has some of the highest taxes in the world, and last I checked, it has consistently rank tops in quality of life and people have continuously gotten richer over the last 40 years even though it is considered a "welfare state". But enough about that.

Even the Mayor of Alamo Heights knows what dense/high-rise development would mean for the rest of AH.

http://www.sacurrent.com/news/story.asp?id=72377

Quote:

In the January edition of AHNA’s Advocate, the mayor reiterated his opposition to the height amendment. Yet a paragraph from the original letter to residents, obtained under the Texas Public Information Act, suggests the mayor is more amenable to vertical development than he’s let on.

“Consider the condos at 200 Patterson Avenue, behind Central Market,” the editorial originally read, referring to a 12-story complex jointly owned by some 70 condo owners. “I have never heard a single comment about it being a bad thing for our City. To the contrary, it is often cited as being a major aesthetic plus for the entire community. … It is obvious that a project like 200 Patterson makes a very significant economic contribution to the city, while at the same time possibly actually decreasing the taxes on all other property owners.” The stricken paragraph never made it past Joseph.

I read that story a couple of weeks ago in The Current.
You can read the rest of the story here.

I say that if AH and OP want to continue the NIMBYness, then have at it. It'll cost them more to play catch-up in 20-30 years.

UrbanTrance · #**1087** Posted **May 26, 2011, 12:47 AM**

Quote:

The intent was to expose students to different disciplinary perspectives and encourage student research. Their innovative approach ignited student interest, exposed more students to the excitement of discovery, and drew significant support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the W. M. Keck Foundation, and the Merck Foundation. But it also highlighted the very real need for facilities that address and accommodate this new reality in science and engineering education.

Responding to that need, Trinity broke ground in May 2010 on the $100 million Center for the Sciences and Innovation, the largest development ever undertaken on the campus. To be completed in phases, the project includes new construction along with major renovations of existing buildings configured to create an integrated 116,000 square-foot complex.
Read more here

http://web.trinity.edu/x4081.xml

Has anyone seen the building? Judging from the website, some of it looks like it's nearing completion.

Keep-SA-Lame · #**1088** Posted **May 30, 2011, 2:31 PM**

I have. It's "topped out", but looks pretty far from completion.

tgannaway89 · #**1089** Posted **May 30, 2011, 9:51 PM**

Holiday Inn under construction near Hausman & I-10.

KCI headquarters under construction across the street.

SAguy · #**1090** Posted **Jun 22, 2011, 4:35 AM**

From KSAT 12-

Eilan
http://www.ksat.com/video/28313309/index.html

This place sounds awesome.

The Model · #**1091** Posted **Jun 22, 2011, 10:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAguy

From KSAT 12-

Eilan
http://www.ksat.com/video/28313309/index.html

This place sounds awesome.

I posted a night picture of this place a few pages back

The Model · #**1092** Posted **Jun 22, 2011, 10:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Model

Took this picture on Christmas Eve. Notice the Christmas lights on the crane

Here it is!

oldmanshirt · #**1093** Posted **Jun 23, 2011, 3:08 AM**

Alamo City lures energy giants
(6/14/2011)

SAN ANTONIO - Two oil field services companies are establishing bases in the Alamo City to serve clients drilling in the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas.

Halliburton recently purchased 150 acres in southern Bexar County in the northeast quadrant of the intersection of Loop 1604 and I-37, according to county land records. Company officials say no plans have been finalized for the site.

Halliburton’s land is made up of five parcels of unequal size for which the company paid an undetermined sum. The company held a job fair recently to fill 100 positions in the area.

Weatherford International will build a facility near Loop 1604 and I-37. The company is hiring about 100 people for its planned Bexar County location, which will include offices and bays to house and service the company’s hydraulic fracturing equipment.

The 400-mile-long Eagle Ford shale formation lies under 24 counties and sweeps west from East Texas to Webb County and the border. Drilling there has boomed in the last three years, with 1,912 drilling permits issued through June 2 of this year, compared with just 33 permits issued in 2008.

http://recenter.tamu.edu/newstalk/main.asp?A=19